Search This Blog

#LightTheWorld

My Favorite 10th Cousin, Part II

Yesterday, I showed you how to set up a familysearch.org account, and get started on your family tree. If you missed that post, you'll want to go back and read it. You will need a familysearch.org account in order to play your own version of 6 Degrees of You. Today, you will want to head over to Relative Finder. Click on "Log In."

That will take you to the familysearch log in page. Go ahead and enter your log in information that you created yesterday.

You will then be taken back to Relative Finder, where you will be asked to grant permission for Relative Finder to access your Family Search family tree. Accept, then you will be taken to a page with a list like this:

While many of the built-in groups include Mormon historical figures, other groups would be of more universal interest. Check whichever groups you are interested in, then click "Show Relatives":

You'll then see the results:

If you then click on "View" (on the right hand side, under "Chart"), you will see how the Relative and you both descend from the Common Ancestor. You are probably wondering whether my favorite 10th cousin is Jesse James, Elias Disney, or John Wayne. Well, my favorite 10th cousin is none of the above. Another really cool feature of Relative Finder is the ability to create your own custom group. On the top bar of the Relative Finder site, you will see a "Groups" label. If you click on it, you will see a choice to "Create New Group."

You can invite anyone else who also has a familysearch account to join your newly created group. All of those individuals can see how they are related to each other. John and I formed a group. And John and I discovered we are 10th cousins. (Our common relative lived in the 1600's, so don't give us any grief.) I don't think it comes as any surprise that John is my favorite 10th cousin. Tonight, for our Relief Society meeting, we will be inviting the women to join a group so we can find out how we might be related to each other. I've already found another 10th cousin among those of us organizing the meeting; I look forward to seeing who else might be related to me. And if any of you are also related to anyone on my results list above. . . well, hello, cousin!

We found out we were cousins after dating for two years. I don't know why our grandparents never mentioned it. They knew all along. It wasn't until after we were married, I think, that we realized they had the same photo.I met all sorts of cousins when I went to high school. The town where my high school is used to be my great-great-great grandparents' farm. Streets are named after my relatives. I knew none of this until high school.

1. I'm thankful for cooperative return policies. Several weeks ago, I mentioned that I had to return a range that I had purchased, and I hoped that the particular range was just a lemon and that the replacement wouldn't have the same problem. Well, unfortunately, it did. On the bright side, the store quickly picked up the second range and refunded my money. I'm putting appliance purchases on the back burner (!) for the moment.

2. I'm thankful for temples. I went one morning this week to the temple. I'm always amazed at how much insight comes in just an hour or two of reflection.

3. I'm thankful for my sister. She and her family came to Utah to spend Thanksgiving with her in-laws, and I got a chance to see her and her family on Wednesday. The last time I saw her was in January at our grandma's 100th birthday celebration. We feel lucky to have two visits in one year!

Me in a Nutshell

In the summer of 2018, after 29 years of raising children, my husband and I (as he puts it) "finally grew up and moved out on our own." I loved those years, but I also love the empty-nest adventure. No matter what your stage of life, I invite you to join me in living life with a thankful heart.